The Encounter

BETTY'S POV

Betty knew she would be worried about her predicament, but instead, she could only feel tired. And she was grateful. She hadn't been able to sleep more than an hour or two at a time since leaving her office. Then again, she'd never slept well. Surrendering to exhaustion, James's mind sloughed off her worries and flew out of the place where she was attacked to the oblivion of deep, dreamless sleep.

The fragile strands of consciousness lay just out of her grasp for Lord only knew how long. With a strength she hadn't known she possessed, Betty clenched her fingers repeatedly to waken. She lay there a long time before she forced down some of the contents of her flask and coughed violently against the burn.

Her mind was blurry, she wasn't sure if she had swooned or fallen asleep. But she wasn't foolish enough to succumb to it again. This unnaturally dark, frigid cocoon frightened her.

The hinges creamed as she shoved at the door above. In a rush, the door fell from its moorings, taking a portion of the car sliding with it.

"What happened to James? Lord, please let him be safe….. My husband should be on the lookout for me now"

Well, she had to get out and had to start walking. No one was coming for her. She would perish if she remained here. Yet it was hard to make her limbs obey. Tears of frustration almost froze inside her eyelids as she twisted from the wreckage.

Bent with weariness and the edge of pain furrowing her side, she leaned into the wind, into the gloaming, and trudged towards the main mail coach road, away from the direction James had taken. It was her best chance. She was certain she would find a house around the next bend.

The world around her became ghostly, the flakes falling on a slant, drifting onto the heavy branches of the trees, hedgerows, and the lane, softening the ugly ruts in the road. She shivered and drew the blankets more tightly about her. How she wished she could fly away.

Her breath crystallised in the blanket near her mouth as she tried to regulate her thoughts and her breathing, as the weather was getting colder.

Just past the first turn, she realised there was no house, no village in front of her, only a long stretch of whiteness bordered by snow-powdered hedges without a telltale rise in smoke in the distance.

She didn't dare look up again for a long while. Time lost all meaning as she walked onward, her cheeks stinging, then without feeling, as hints of eventide crept in behind the melancholy December sky.

It was then that Betty murmured an almost forgotten prayer from her childhood……...a little something to her guardian Angel begging an entree to paradise.

…………………………..

She awoke stretching contentedly. Staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling, it took her a few moments to determine where she was, but she couldn't recognise this place.

Sitting bolt upright, she tossed the covers back. The other bed was empty. One glance out the small window told her that the sun was well. The woods seemed to have been washed clean by a storm that might have happened. She hadn't thought she would sleep so deeply or so long.

She quickly stood up " Where the hell am I? What happened last night " she covered her face with tears, that was when she noticed she wasn't wearing the clothes she remembered wearing to work Yesterday. She was confused as she couldn't remember what happened after the drink Mr Jude gave her in her office.

Henry ran up to check on her as he heard her almost screaming. "Good morning Miss"

" Who the hell are you and why am I here?" She took a few steps away from him then she continued "Whose cloth am I wearing?"

" Ok, if you would let me talk," Henry said and also took more steps back to make her comfortable enough for her to know that he won't hurt her.

"Go ahead," She said calmly this time

"I saw you half-dead on my way back to him from work, I tried waking you up to get more information on how I can get you home but it seems you " he wanted to say drugs, but he thought better.." seems you were drunk, so I bought you here so that you can get yourself and for your cloth, they were terrible and dirty, so I decided to be nice enough to change your dress" His attitude, how she was drawn to his attitude

"Can you take me home?" She asked, "I should know this area and locate my home," She said politely going to sit on the bed

"Yes," He said going back to what he was doing

"Thank you for saving me, I appreciate and thanks for the cloth" she as he stopped and turn to her coming close to him

"It's Ok" he squeezed a smile.

Betty went close and kissed him. Betty's kiss not only stole his breath away but also drove his hangover tiredness out of his skull.

He tasted enthusiasm and awe on her lips. It had been a long time since a woman had kissed him like that. He stared at her, then looked at her hand and saw that there was a ring that broke his heart. " I would be ready in no time to get you back home, I hope you don't mind wearing my cloth home, yours is damaged already as it seems you crawled a lot, " He said and moved away from her

" Ok Mr, Thank you" She was surprised that he did not make some advances on her unlike some uncontrollable men out there.

He got prepared as fast as he said he would and drove her down to her place, just like one of her bad habits, she gave him her contact. 

Betty knew how her husband might react to her coming home now, so she went prepared. She slowly opened the door hoping he wasn't in the living room, that alone made her guilty. 

"Where have you been?" His voice echoed from the kitchen 

"I honestly don't what happened to me" 

"How would you not know what happened to you, what kind of useless excuse is that" He came out to the living room where she was to see her clearly "And whose cloth are you wearing?" 

This……… She thought better than, to be honest, " A lady, I don't know her, she saw me half dead and saved me" 

"Half dead?" 

"Why didn't you come looking for me huh?" she raised her voice 

"You think I did not?" 

She was silent for a minute because it might have been true, "Allow me to explain what happened" 

Mr Dan stared hard hoping it was not what he is thinking " Go on" 

"I was in the office and was about to leave around 7:30 pm then a friend who works there came in and served me a drink, I refused but she" she lied again " But she insisted I should since I was really tired and dehydrated 

" Then you drank it"

"Yes, I did" 

"Why didn't you bring it home?" 

"A glass of wine?" Betty asked 

"Hold on, go upstairs and change then come back" Dan ordered 

That night wasn't the best, one of those days they quarrel. 

Dan decided to sleep in another room. 

…………… 

She felt…… bereft. It was so lonely, here in this bed without him. She missed him, missed him desperately. She missed his warmth, the solid strength of his arms about her back, the steady throb of his heart beneath her cheek. Quickly, before she lost her nerve. She rose and moved to the door. It creaked when she opened it. 

For one paralysing instant, she didn't see him. An icy fear ripped through her. Then she saw him on the other side of the bed. 

"Dan" 

He remained where he was, he did not move an inch, she knew he heard her and he was very much awake. She called again, he turned this time "Yeah?" 

She wets her lips "Will you not come to join me?" 

He stood up and went close to her

"Sweet heaven," he said against her mouth….. Into it….. " why should I not" 

He kissed her then, kissed her with an unbridled lingering, with all the pent-up desire buried deep in his heart, letting her taste the fierceness of his hunger. With one arm he caught her up against him. In some far distant corner, he thought she would stop him. She did not. 

For she could not. 

She was cold to the depth of her bones, and he alone possessed the power to warm her. Only he could stoke the fires within her. She had told him of that long-ago night. She'd entrusted to him that which she had never told another. And with the feel of his mouth warm and hard upon hers, the tight knot of fear inside her melted away. Though she did not understand it, at that moment it seemed only right that she should yield this, body and soul……. 

Her heart beat high into her throat, her fingers curled and u curled in the front of his tunic. 

Dan stared at her. His eyes darkened. He wanted her. He ached for her….. Too much to refuse what she offered. 

Ah, but would the night's surrender draw the morrow's penance? He had to know he had to. 

"Do you know what you ask?" his gaze probed hers, clear to some unseen place hidden deep within her. "Do you, Betty? Say yes or say no, but say it now!" even as he spoke, his hands came up to grip her own. 

For one perilous moment, Betty's mind betrayed her and she was reminded of other hands. Hands upon her body. Hands that had forced her down. 

Drawn by a force she couldn't command, her gaze tricked down….. down to where dark fingers caught her own. They were strong, those hands. Lean and powerful. Tanned and wholly male. 

Those hands had grasped her waist, traced the slant of her cheek, skimmed the bareness of her very breast, immeasurably gentle despite their strength. Those hands had made her tremble, but not in fear. Not, not in fear…… never in fear. 

His hands held no terror for her now. 

She trembled anew. Her glaze climbed higher. Her eyes clung to his, trapped by his fiery hold of his. With quavering heart and quaking limbs, she heard her voice, as if from a very great distance "Yes" and then again, this time a soft cry "Yes" 

His eyes seemed to blaze. "Then let it be" he whispered. His mouth crushed hers, hot and passionate. She felt herself swept high aloft, snug in his embrace. He kicked the door shut with the heel of his boot. Her toes touched the floor. Almost before she could draw breath, her gown was whisked from her shoulders. She could only watch as his clothes met the same end as hers, a forgotten pile on the rough cold floor. 

The light from the fire bathed him in pale, firelit glory. Though her cheeks flooded crimson, Betty could not help herself. Always before, she had hidden her face away, curious but almost desperately afraid to look. Now she could not help herself. 

Dan was so tall and striking, he was a man whose sheer presence was an overpowering force among those around him. 

Naked, he was….. Extraordinary. 

He was power and strength. Masculine grace and vitality. 

The stark, masculine beauty of his body made her throat constrict. His frame was forged in iron. He was long and lean of limb, the contours of his shoulders were sculpted and round, and his arms were sinuously defined with muscle. A dark netting of fur covered his chest and the ridged hardness of his belly. From somewhere she dredged up the courage to gaze the length of him...all of him.

She dared what she had never dared before. What she saw made her eyes widen and her entire body go hot. The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Rigidly unconfined, framed in coarse black curls, his staff stood boldly erect. Betty let out an uneven breath and transferred her gaze to the safer territory for they had just been newly married. 

But he knew she had seen him. As if he were precisely aware of where her gaze had resided for long, uninterrupted moments, an odd half-smile curled his lips. He allowed no time for shame. No time for embarrassment. A hand at her hips urged her body against his. His skin was hotter than any fire, the eyes that gazed down at her brighter than any flame, there was nowhere they did not touch. 

His fingers twisted in her hair, turning her face up to his. Then his mouth was on hers, a fevered caress that tasted of a tortuous hunger that was strangely thrilling. Warm breath filled her throat…. His breath. Never in her life had she dreamed a kiss could be like this. When his tongue danced against hers, a swirling foray, she felt utterly boneless. She would surely have fallen were it not for the hardness of his arms braced around her back. 

She was only dimly aware of being carried to the bed. Firelight flickered over his features as he propped himself on an elbow, his regard utterly intent. 

"You know what I will do to you?" he said quietly 

She blushed "Yes" 

He ran the pad of his thumb over her lips. "Then listen to me, Betty, for when I take you…. It will be nothing like what was done to you before." his tone was low and vibrating "Nothing at all" 

"You must trust me, can you do that?" indeed, she thought wildly, she had no choice. Some little-known sense inside warned her they had come too far to turn back now. 

"Yes," she whispered. Yet he must have heard the vulnerability in her voice, for his eyes darkened 

"It will not be the same as before," he said again. With fledgling courage, she laid her fingertips on the bristly plane of his cheek, unable to tear her eyes from his. "Will you swear it down? Will you?" 

His gaze rested on her mouth. "I swear it" 

This time his kiss was so unbearably sweet, that she nearly cried out. He whispered her name, a sound that sent a quiver all through her. 

   His lips found the corner of her mouth. " Betty…. Sweet Betty. You must tell me what pleases you." 

With his thumbs, he traced slow circles around the boundary of her breast "Does this please you?" 

 She could only nod, for he was drawing perilously close to the delicate roseate peaks. She longed to drag his hands heavy against her selling fullness, for her nipples thrust turgid and hard, in a way that had only happened with him…. 

" And this? "  he grazed the very tips, the merest butterfly caress. 

She inhaled sharply. Her breasts seemed to swell still further. That evocative touch came again….. And yet again. Lightning shot through her, centred there at those dusky crowns. She hadn't realised that he would try to please her. Somehow she'd been convinced he would see to his pleasure first. 

He seemed to know exactly where she ached, what she wanted. He gave an odd little laugh. 

"You like that, don't you?  Ah, but I knew you would "

His mouth slid down her throat. Heat splintered all through her, even as her mind baulked. No, she thought hazily. He had touched her there. But surely he would not…. 

She could only watch in mingled shock and fascination as his dark head hovered over her breast. Never had she dreamed he might kiss her there? As if in anticipation, her nipples peaked and hardened, as his mouth touched the quivering tip, she gasped. "Dan, what…. What do you do?" 

He raised his head, his smile wicked "Ahh, but there's more, lass. Much, much more…." 

He began the task anew, but this time….. This time he trapped the dark rouge centre within the hit wet cave of his mouth. His tongue boldly came out to touch the swelling peak, leaving and curling, teasing and sucking…… a sharp stab of pure sensation tore through her. The torment was unceasing. He lashed her nipple with torrid, wanton strokes that made her bite back a cry of sheer bliss.